Representative George Miller, a California Democrat, opened an inquiry Friday about the Labor Department's lack of response, after two years, to a group of former Halliburton employees who sought its help when the company unexpectedly reduced their pensions.þþMr. Miller, the ranking Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee, sent a letter to the Labor secretary, Elaine L. Chao, asking for information about the department's handling of the case. þþThe workers are all long-term employees of Dresser-Rand. In 1998, Halliburton acquired a stake in that company, which it sold it in February 2000. Vice President Dick Cheney was chief executive of Halliburton at the time. þþThe workers say they sought help from a number of sources, including the Labor Department, where an official said two years ago that she would look into the matter. The employees said they had heard nothing from the department, and many of them eventually gave up and took the reduced payments. Their predicament was the subject of an article last Thursday in The New York Times. þþMr. Miller said it was not clear to him whether Halliburton's actions were legal. Halliburton has repeatedly stated that it fulfilled all requirements of the law, and that if any additional pension money is owed, it will be the responsibility of Ingersoll-Rand, the company that bought its stake. Ingersoll-Rand disputes that. þþ
Source: NY Times
